US 12,449,539 B1
Systems and methods of imaging and/or range finding
Patrick R. Mickel, San Diego, CA (US); Drew F. DeJarnette, San Diego, CA (US); and Matthew C. Cristina, Oceanside, CA (US)
Assigned to General Atomics Aeronautical Systems, Inc., San Diego, CA (US)
Filed by GENERAL ATOMICS AERONAUTICAL SYSTEMS, INC., San Diego, CA (US)
Filed on Oct. 23, 2024, as Appl. No. 18/924,139.
Application 18/924,139 is a continuation of application No. 17/206,582, filed on Mar. 19, 2021, granted, now 12,153,136.
Int. Cl. G01S 7/42 (2006.01); G01S 7/48 (2006.01); G01S 7/484 (2006.01); G01S 7/486 (2020.01); G01S 17/42 (2006.01); G01S 17/89 (2020.01)
CPC G01S 17/42 (2013.01) [G01S 7/4804 (2013.01); G01S 7/484 (2013.01); G01S 7/486 (2013.01); G01S 17/89 (2013.01)] 20 Claims
OG exemplary drawing
 
1. A system that determines distance to one or more objects, the system comprising:
an image capture system; and
a range measurement circuit configured to access images captured by the image capture system, wherein the range measurement circuit is configured to:
obtain, based on line of sight (LOS) angular displacement changes relative to the image capture system, a set of candidate point-spread-functions (PSFs) that each correspond to a different possible object range;
deconvolve, for each candidate PSF of the set of candidate PSFs, at least a first region of interest (ROI) in an accessed first evaluation image, of the images, to obtain at least a set of deconvolved ROIs of the first evaluation image;
identify a first candidate PSF, of the set of candidate PSFs, that produces a respective deconvolved ROI, of the set of deconvolved ROIs, resulting in an estimated artifact power that is lower than corresponding estimated artifact powers each estimated based on a different one of the other candidate PSFs of the set of candidate PSFs; and
define a first distance, which corresponds to the first candidate PSF, as a distance between the image capture system and a first object at least partially captured within the first ROI of the first evaluation image.